How Do Questions Change the Brain?

Quick - What does a lemon taste like?

I know what a lemon tastes like. Tell me something else instead:

What just happened inside your mouth?

David Hoffeld asks another one: Want to know what your brain does when it hears a question?

His article from the website FastCompany.com explores the neurological consequences of hearing a question. Questions temporarily hijack the brain. Did you immediately think about lemons? First, serotonin is released, causing the brain to relax. Next you get a hit of dopamine. The question takes over your thought processes while you think about the answer. The technical term is instinctive elaboration.

The hijacking doesn't last forever. The person who is asked the question can choose to ignore it, can argue against it, can go off on a tangent.

But Hoffeld cites a number of research studies that document when you ask somebody whether they are going to do something, you increase the probability that they will do it—buy a car, vote in an upcoming election, even donate blood.

Questions not only alter your perception. They can even alter your chemistry. Chances are, when you read the lemon question, you started to salivate.

Hoffeld is a business guy. He has a book, The Science of Selling. It uses neuroscience, social psychology, and behavioral economics to teach a more scientific approach to sales. That's his interest, getting people to buy things or ideas.

Me, when I first read about instinctive elaboration, my interest was about mental health:

• What are the questions I might ask that tell you I care and seek to understand?

• What are the questions that shut you down?

• What are the questions that help you sort through your thoughts and feelings?

• Would the game of Trivial Pursuits help my family interact without devolving into one more lamentation of the chaos of the week?

Questions work their magic by engaging the brain. Hannah Gadsby, Australian stand-up comic framed an entire show (currently on Netflix) around how her fiancee interrupted Hannah’s panic attack with the question, Who do you want to be?

My sermons these days include more questions. I am tired of having all the answers.

I have another Substack called On the Way—daily meditations on the Scripture lessons from the daily prayer office. Today’s post is about a question that Jesus asked. Wednesday’s was about the question that God asked Jonah.

So, what's your favorite question?

The photo was taken by Ivar Leidus and is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.